No new jeans

I'm taking a "Globalization and Health" course this semester. The past two weeks our readings have focused on poverty, trade and globalization (shocker there). Today we had our first class and after a round of introductions (and my oh my fellow students are quite accomplished), we watched China Blue.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/

The film follows a 17-year old Chinese village girl as she works at a Jeans factory in southern China. You've surely heard of the poor working and living conditions these women/children face. The young girl in the film makes only 6 cents an hour cleaning the lint off of jeans and removing loose threads.

But in addition to following the journey of the young girl, the documentary looks at the side of the factory owner and how the global economic system has forced him to operate his facility. I even found myself empathizing with the factory owner who was responsible for the low pay and poor treatment of his women factory workers. I'm sure if he really had his druthers he would prefer to pay them at least minimum wage but in order to be viable in the competitive Chinese market, faster and cheaper was necessary or he'd lose business.

For a girl who loves her jeans, this was a bit hard to stomach. "Made in America" has a new meaning for me from here on out. I recommend you watching this and promptly adjust your jeans buying habits. Also, you might not be so quick to point the finger at China. It makes you think, what role do we play in global consumerism? The documentary is captivating.

During the preparation for this class, one of our assignments was to watch Leslie Chang give a talk at Google and read from her book Factory Girls. As another suggestion, I highly recommend you watching this. I think I might have to read the book!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhcqoxNhrSY